A discourse delivered before the American Academy of the Arts : 23d October, 1816

N

7445.2
C64
1816

NMAA

N

7445.2

C64

1816

tiHAt

ft"

CM.

jJf^ptPt DISCOURSE,

DELIVERED BEFORE

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF THE ARTS,

HONOURABLE DE WITT CLINTON, LL. D.

(president.)

23d October, 1816,

NEW-YORK:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY T. & YT. MERCEIN,

Printers to the Academy y^^^fK/^Q^ UB^

18161 MAY 1 1988

Wohm ins®!

NEW-YORK INSTITUTION.

23d October, 1816.

AT A MEETING OP THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF THE ARTS :

Resolved, That the thanks of the Academy be pre-
sented to the Honourable De Witt Clinton, LL D. for his
Discourse, delivered this day, and that he be requested to
furnish a copy for publication,

John R. Murray, Esq. Vice-President,
Doctor David Hosack, and
Colonel John Trumbull,
Were appointed a Committee to impart this Resolution.

Extract from the Minutes,

JOHN PLNTARD,
Secretary.

DISTRICT OF NEW-YORK, ss.

BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the twenty-fourth day of October, in the for-
iielh year of the Independence of the United States of America, T. h W. Mer-
cein, of the said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the
right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit:

" A Discourse, delivered before the American Academy of the Arts, by the
Honourable De Witt Clinton, LL. D. President, 23d October, 1816."

In conformity to the act of Congress of the United States, entitled " An act
" for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts,
" and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times
" therein mentioned ;" and also to an act, entitled " An act supplementary to
" an act, entitled an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the
il copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such
"copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits
•< thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other
' prints."

THERON RUDD,
Clerk of the District of New-York

DISCOURSE, &c.

Gentlemen of the American
Academy of the Arts,

I have complied with your request to open
the Academy on this interesting occasion, with great
pleasure, but not without unaffected diffidence.
You must be sensible, that this Institution has strug-
gled against a succession of serious difficulties from
its origin to the present time ; that at different pe-
riods, it has indeed cheered us with a glimmering
light, but that at most times, it has appeared like
an expiring taper. The causes are various ; the
absence of vigorous and systematic exertion — the
want of funds — of suitable apartments — of public
exhibitions — and of a complete co-operation with
our artists — and a consequent indisposition in the
public to countenance it under all these embarrass-
ments : and when it was found almost impracticable
to obtain even a meeting of the Directors, I did not
consider it necessary to attend to their request, to
pronounce an eulogium on our late President, until
a more favourable condition should enable us to
execute it in a manner the most respectful to the
deceased, and the most creditable to the Academy,
That auspicious period has now arrived. The libe-

rality of our municipality has furnished us with spa-
cious apartments, and the public spirit and taste of
a few of our associates, have prepared them for our
reception. The collections of the Academy have
been drawn from their obscure receptacles, to adorn
that edifice, and the rich and various contributions of
genius will, it is to be hoped, give elevation to this
city, and reflect honour on our country.

It it a subject of deep regret, that the correcting
interposition of reason is necessary to remove the
strong prejudices which exist against this Institution;
for, it is believed by many, that the state of society,
and the form of our government, are unfriendly to
the encouragement of the Fine Arts, and that they
ought to be neglected or over-looked, until more
important establishments are endowed by private
and public liberality, and until the higher depart-
ments of human knowledge are improved to the ut-
most extent.

If this subject were presented for consideration,
as a controversy of preference between the Fine
Arts and the Sciences; or between the polite and
the mechanic arts, there would be no room for hesi-
tation. The useful must always take precedence of
the agreeable — the accommodations must always be
preferred to the luxuries of life; the investigations
of science, and the acquisitions of learning must
ever take the highest rank in intellectual estimation ;
but in this case there is fortunately no collision.

The physical, the moral, the intellectual, and the
political appearances of the world, exhibit an extra-
ordinary state of things. We have seen within a
few years, society torn from its foundations, and go-
vernments sanctioned by time, and fortified by pre-
judice, prostrated and hurled into ruin; we have
seen the world in arms, and on a sudden the olive
branch of peace extended to mankind ; we are wit-
nessing the silent and rapid progress of a great mo-
ral revolution, by the extension of the blessings of
education and the lights of religion; we have be-
held some of the most destructive diseases disarmed
of their fury ; we have seen endless sideral worlds,
which were hitherto impervious to human vision,
fully opened to our contemplation; we have applied
the most powerful agents to the purposes of analy-
sis and decomposition, and have obtained new views
of elementary and compound substances. The
sciences which relate to inorganic matter, and to or-
ganized bodies, have been cultivated with wonderful
ardour; the depths of mathematical and physical
knowledge have been sounded, and the most intri-
cate recesses of the human mind have been explored :
and yet in the midst of all this intellectual activity —
of this scientific elevation, of these moral improve-
ments and political mutations, ample room has been
found for the cultivation and encouragement of the
Fine Arts. Genius has been cherished; taste has
exercised its high endowments; the world has been
explored for specimens of art ; and the costly and

magnificent contributions of the present age, have
triumphed over all the enterprises of former times.

It is impossible to restrain the operations of the hu-
man mind, within the severe boundaries of science.
The direction which nature gives, must be pursued :
And, as in the economy of society, it is essential, that
a division of labour should exist in the mechanic arts,
so it is requisite, in the arrangement of the intellec-
tual world, that different minds should be impelled
to different pursuits, in order that every science, and
every art, depending for its success upon mental ex-
ertion, should attain the greatest perfection. Hence
it is, that some will devote themselves to works of
imagination, and others to the exercise of the rea-
soning power; some to the polite arts, and others
to the abstract sciences. In the progress of a civilized
and enlightened community, all the professions,
whether liberal or mechanical, whether depending
upon the labour of the mind, or the hands, the exer-
cise of the fancy, or the judgment, must be filled up :
and it is the duty of a patriotic government, to en-
courage all, by dispensing its beneficence, like the
dew of heaven ; preferring, however, whenever pre-
ference becomes necessary, such as are most con-
ducive to general and permanent prosperity.

And, indeed, when we consider the origin, the
history, and the uses of the fine arts, we must be
persuaded, that they ought to receive the encour-
aging smiles of public beneficence: They occupy
an extensive field; they administer to the enjoy-

aients and accommodations of mankind; they de*
mand great mental laoour, and produce high mental
pleasure, and they mi rk with an unerring hand, the
boundary between barbarism and refinement.

Sculpture, painting, e.igraving, architecture, gard-
ening, music, and poetry, compose the fine arts. At
the earliest dawn of civilization, they attracted the
attention of the human race. The sacred scriptures
inform us of the high estimation in which they were
held. The institutions of Moses, and the edifices
of Solomon, demonstrate great proficiency, and the
garden of Alcinous, and the shield of Achilles, as
described by Homer, show, that the arts must have
flourished before the composition of his immortal
work. The history of Attica proclaims the high
regard in which they were held, by the An-
cient Grecians, and, at the same time, exhibits the
most elevated, and most degrading views of human
nature. The whole territory covered, but about.
150,000 acres of land, and its greatest population
did not exceed 300,000 souls : Athens has been de-
scribed as the metropolis of learning, the school of
arts, and the centre of taste and genius.* Under
all circumstances, and in all conditions, whether
blessed with a free government, or oppressed by
tyranny — whether over-run by the Persian, the
Macedonian, the Roman, the Goth, or the Turk —
whether enlightened by the effulgence of science,
or bewildered in the night of ignorance, this little

* Chandler's Travel?.

8

spot has attracted the attention, and has command-
ed the admiration of mankind, for more than three
thousand years. The Acropolis is, perhaps, the
most interesting place on the globe. In the school
of Phidias, and under the administration of Pericles,
it was replenished with pictures, statues, pieces of
sculpture, and the most finished models of architec-
ture. In the time of Pliny, 3000 statues remained;
after sustaining the depredations of Roman conquer-
ors, the ravages of barbarian invaders, and the de-
lapidations of Turkish tyrants, it still contained the
most precious monuments of art, and the most noble
objects of curiosity: it has always engrossed the atten-
tion of enlightened travellers ; drawings, prints, and
descriptions of its riches, have been given from time
to time, to an admiring world, and the most invalua-
ble specimens of sublime skill, have been trans-
ported to adorn the collections of taste and munifi-
cence. We thus see the immortal honour, which
a small republic has acquired, by the cultivation of
the arts ; and we also perceive, the degrading effects
of a bad government upon its ill-fated inhabitants :
they still retain the form, the beauty, and the native
wit of their ancestors, but they are covered with the
gloom of ignorance, and a late traveller says, that
" the state of the arts in Greece, is, as might be ex-
pected, most deplorable. It would be difficult to
find an architect, a sculptor or painter, equal to
the common workmen in the towns of Christen-
dom."*

* Hobhouse,

9

The ancient Grecians, highly favoured by the Al-
mighty, with a benignant clime, and a fertile soil; bles-
sed with the choicest gifts of intellect, and the freest
institutions of government, were, at the same time,
possessed of a generous thirst for praise, and a noble
spirit of emulation, that carried to perfection all the
works of art, and all the productions of genius. When
the father of profane history read his immortal work
to the men of Greece, assembled at the Olympian
games, what more sublime spectacle could be exhib-
ited of human nature ? The greatest genius, sub-
mitting the greatest effort of the human mind, to the
judgment of the most enlightened people. And,
when even the herb women of Athens, could criti-
cise the phraseology of Demosthenes, and the mean-
est artisan could pronounce judgment on the works
of Apelles and Phidias, what might not be expected
from the well directed elforts of that wonderful
nation ?

An enthusiasm, unequalled in its intensity, and
unparalleled in its effects, pervaded Greece in fa-
vour of the Arts and Sciences, and sometimes it
even arrested the hand of desolation, and averted
the horrors of war. A beautiful story is told in the
Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, illustrative of the
dominion of this noble spirit, which puts at a dis-
tance the most chivalric exhibitions of modern times.
Demetrius, the celebrated commander, attacked the
island of Rhodes, and laid siege to the principal
and richest town in it. That general had obtained

B *

10

the surname of Poliorcetes, for the skill which he
manifested, and the machines he employed in the
conduct of his sieges. In the course of his attack,
he was preparing to destroy and consume by fire
some public buildings without the walls of the town,
which were protected only by a slight guard. These
buildings contained the famous picture of Ialyssus,
from the hand of that illustrious painter, Protogenes.
Enraged against the Rhodians, he envied them the
beauty and the excellence of this work, but they
sent ambassadors to him with this message, " Wl at
is the reason that, setting fire to the buildings, you
would destroy this picture. If you conquer us* you
will possess the whole town, and, by right of victo-
ry, the picture, unhurt, will be yours; but if you
are unable to subdue us, we desire you to consider
whether it is not dishonourable, because you cannot
conquer the Rhodians, to make war upon the de-
ceased Protogenes." Having heard this message
from the ambassadors, relinquishing the siege, he
spared at once the picture and the city. Plutarch
has indeed represented this transaction in a differ-
ent light, but highly creditable to Demetrius and
the art. It is also related of this celebrated picture,
that Protogenes was seven years in finishing it — that
he gave it four coats of colours, in order that when
one was effaced by time, another might supply its
place- — that when he had long laboured in vain to
paint the foam of a dog, he happily hit it off by
throwing the brush in anger at the dog's mouth—

11

and that when Apelles first saw this production, he
was so much astonished that he could not speak. It
was conveyed to Rome by Cassius, and placed in the
temple of Peace, where it remained until the time
of Commodus, when, together with the temple, it
was consumed by fire.

In course of time, the seat of the fine arts was
transferred from Athens to the eternal city ; and
the monsters who occupied the throne of Augustus,
endeavoured, by encouraging them, to varnish over
their own crimes, and to propitiate the affections of
mankind. After a long night of darkness, the restora-
tion of letters was accompanied by the resurrection
of the fine arts : and the Italian, the Flemish, the
Dutch, and the French schools, bear testimony to
the high estimation in which they were held. Great
Britain and the north of Europe have also cherish-
ed this benign propensity ; and amidst the extraor-
dinary calamities and overwhelming desolations of
modern times, it has been the pride and the glory of
the great characters who have participated in these
mighty events, to secure blessings to their country
and immortality to themselves, by collecting the
costly and superb monuments of the arts, and by
creating and diffusing the light of science.

If, however, in the history of the world, it should
sometimes appear, that usurpers and tyrants have
been the patrons of magnificent works, let not the
praise be transferred from the individual to the go-
vernment. The career of successful ambition has
placed in his hands the power of dispensing good,

12

and he endeavours to conciliate affection, by ac-
commodating his acts to the taste and science of the
community. But if unfortunately ignorance prevail,
and a hatred of knowledge bear sway, then the des-
pot will involve the country in the thickest gloom of
Cimmerian darkness. The prolific power — the fer-
tile soil that prodnces all good, must reside in the
great body of the people. And when a free nation
passes under the yoke of tyranny, some of the ori-
ginal stamina of greatness — some of the celestial
fire of liberty, will still survive the prostration, and
may enable the usurper to spread the blessings of
knowledge and refinement ; but if there were at no
time a pre-existent state of freedom, it will be diffi-
cult to trace in the experience of the world any suc-
cessful cultivation of knowledge until the lapse of
ages, or the benefits of extended intercourse, shall
have introduced some radiations of light from coun-
tries which are, or once have been free. Even
modern Italy, degraded as she is, by the loss of li-
berty, still feels the divine impulse which was com-
municated in the days of her freedom : and although
the sword of her heroes has been transformed into
the stiletto of the assassin, and the sublime genius
of her poets, her orators, her historians, and her ar-
tists, has evaporated in the refinements of Machia-
velian policy, and in the subtleties of polemic con-
troversy, yet she has within our days produced illus-
trious men, who have enlarged the boundaries of
knowledge, and extended the empire of virtue.

13

A republican government, instead of being un-
friendly to the growth of the fine arts, is the appro-
priate soil for their cultivation. The ability to pro-
mote useful undertakings and beneficial institutions,
must exist to a certain extent in every community,
and it certainly may be called into exertion with
greater potency in a free state than under an arbi-
trary government, where the money expended for
their encouragement is extorted from the people.
The privileged orders which prevail in civilized
monarchies are hostile to the high prerogatives of
intellect. They create a barrier against the ascent
of genius to the highest stations, and they cast the
most distinguished talents and the most exalted en-
dowments in the back ground of society. And al-
though they sometimes produce herbs of salubrious
virtue, and trees of noble growth, yet they in gene-
ral originate and support those pestilent plants
whose seeds, elevated by the winds, are scattered in
every direction, and are propagated by the exhaus-
tion of the most fertile soils, and the destruction of
the most valuable productions.

The condition of our community, in relation to
manners or education, cannot be urged as an objec-
tion against the cultivation of the fine arts. A nation
highly agricultural, and the second commercial peo-
ple in the world — improved by science and abound-
ing in institutions of education, must surely be con-
templated as friendly to those arts which polish and
refine society.

14

Although the ancients were superior in sculpture,
yet the moderns have, in all probability, excelled
them in the graphic art. It is believed that the
former had but four pigments in colouring — that
they were deficient in chiaro oscuro and keeping —
that they were ignorant of the art of painting in oil —
and it is well known that the art of engraving; is a
modern invention, and is a great patron of the pain-
ter, by multiplying and extending his productions.
The ancient artists had undoubtedly superior advan-
tages. They were called upon to supply statues of
the gods and to adorn the temples of religion. The
statue of Jupiter by Phidias, and of Juno by Poly-
cletes, were renowned through all antiquity. The
archetypes from which they delineated the hu-
man form, were the most beautiful of the human
race. The Greek artists were men of the first con-
sideration and of the most finished education. So-
crates himself was a statuary.

The imitative arts must act upon the models fur-
nished by nature or by man. The images which
constitute the materials, on which the inventive or
plastic power proceeds, must be drawn from one or
both of these sources. The pictural art embraces
an extensive field: It includes historical painters —
painters of portraits — of landscapes — of sea pieces,
and of natural history. And in the higher orders
of the art, there are two distinct styles ; the grand
or sublime, and the ornamental or beautiful.

15

With respect to the comparative advantages or
disadvantages of the ancient and modern artists, we
stand precisely on the same footing as our brethren
of the old world ; but we are unfortunately deficient
in having but few distinguished models of art.

The professors of the fine arts occupy the same
ground with us as other callings. There are some who
adorn society by their talents, and are distinguished
for their education and virtues. In these respects
we are not inferior to those of other times and other
countries. And it certainly cannot be alleged that
there is an inaptitude in the American genius for the
fine arts. On the contrary, from the anecdotes
which are related of some of our distinguished
painters, it would appear that an irresistible impulse
had devoted them to the art. And it is well known
that, both abroad and at home, our countrymen
(whose names delicacy forbids me to mention in this
place) have exhibited powers of genius and of taste,
which have commanded not only applause, but ad-
miration.

It has been well observed,

Mutum est pictura poema.*

The inventive power in both cases acts upon those
images which have been collected by observation
and deposited in the store house of the memory —
and which refer, not only to the world of sense
without us, but to the world of thought within us.
But as almost all our ideas are derived in the first

* Horace.

instance from sensation — and as the imitative arts
rely, for their field of operation, upon the material
world, it must be obvious that the imagination of
the artist must derive its power and receive its com-
plexion from the country in which he was born, and
in which he resides. And can there be a country in
the world better calculated than ours to exercise and
to exalt the imagination — to call into activity the
creative powers of the mind, and to afford just views
of the beautiful, the wonderful and the sublime ?
Here Nature has conducted her operations on a
magnificent scale — extensive and elevated mountains
— lakes of oceanic size — rivers of prodigious magni-
tude— cataracts unequalled for volume of water —
and boundless forests filled with wild beasts and
savage men, and covered with the towering oak and
the heaven aspiring pine.

This wild, romantic and awful scenery, is calcu-
lated to produce a correspondent impression on the
imagination — to elevate all the faculties of the mind,
and to exalt all the feelings of the heart : But when
cultivation has exerted its power— when the forest is
converted into fertile fields, blooming with beauty
and smiling with plenty, then the mind of the artist
derives a correspondent colour from the scenes with
which it is conversant ; and the sublime, the wonder-
ful, the ornamental and the beautiful, thus become,
in turn, familiar to his imagination.

America, notwithstanding its infancy, has witness-
ed events as worthy of the delineation of genius as

17

any that have occurred in the old world. Even in
our colonial state, the richest themes exist for the
pencil of the painter — but commencing with the
Declaration of Independence, and coming down to
the events of the present times, what more magnifi-
cent subjects could be selected for the graphic
art ? The painter of history has here an ample field
for the display of his powers. The deliberations of
our statesmen- — the exploits of our heroes may be
revived and perpetuated — deeds of mighty import,
the offspring of ethereal minds, and the parents of
immortal glory— and here the Portrait Painter, the
Statuary, and the Engraver, may transmit to pos-
terity the likenesses of those men who have acted
and suffered in their country's cause. The portrait
collection of this city, by comprising many of the
principal heroes of the country, is entitled to great
praise in its tendency to stimulate to noble deeds?
and to encourage the Fine Arts, by displaying to
advantage the compositions of our best painters,
and its merits would be greatly enhanced if it were
extended so as to embrace illustrious men, who have
done honour to the Arts and Sciences, or who have
distinguished themselves in other respects as men of
extraordinary talents or virtues. The utmost care
ought to be adopted in the selection, as one unwor-
thy preference may disgrace the whole gallery, and
any unmerited omission may recal to mind the ob-
servation of the historian respecting the images of
illustrious men, displayed in a magnificent pfoces

G

18

sion at Rome. " Praefulgebant Cassius et Brutus,
eo ipso quod effigies eorum non visebantur."*

Although I am not prepared to go the whole
length with a distinguished countryman,t and to say
that the genius of architecture, seems to have shed
his maledictions over our land, yet it must be ad-
mitted, that too little attention and encouragement
have been given to this important art. Many of
our public buildings have a sombre and heavy ap-
pearance, and the interior arrangements shew the
absence of skill and taste. Within a few years,
however, great improvements may be seen in our
private as well as in our public edifices. This re-
volution in our taste, may be traced from the time,
when with a spirit truly wise and munificent, the
foundations of the edifice in which we are now as-
sembled, were laid — a building which, for magnifi-
cence of design, and elegance of execution, trans-
cends every public edifice in America. Let it be
strongly impressed on our minds, that the most beau-
tiful and sublime works of Athens, were erected
during the administration of one great man — that
during their execution, so many kinds of labour,
and such a variety of instruments and materials
were requisite, that every art was exerted, every
hand employed, and the whole city was in pay, and
at the same time adorned and supported by itself;
and that it was never in a more prosperous condi-

v Tacitus. 1 Jefferson.

19

tion, than when all its resources were expended in
great public works. The treasure thus applied, was
in a state of incessant activity and circulation, enli-
vening all the avenues of industry, cheering the brow
of labour, and rewarding the hand of skill. The
magnificence of a free people, ought always to be
seen in their halls of justice, in their edifices of
learning, and in their temples of religion.

As the streams and springs which nature has pro-
duced, are, when collected into reservoirs, and regu-
lated by skill, rendered subservient to subsistence,
accommodation, and pleasure, so will the rays of
genius, concentrated in this institution, create and
diffuse a taste for the Fine Arts, and elevate our
country in the estimation of the civilized world. Its
apartments will contain the best models of ancient
and modern art, and the most distinguished speci-
mens of all that can occupy the genius, or perfect
the taste of our country. To that place, the artist
will resort for study and improvement — there he
will deposit the fruits of his genius, there he will
enter the lists of fame, and there he will attain the
palm of glory. How many men are there, upon
whom nature has shed her choicest gifts, who, re-
strained by diffidence, the companion of genius, or
prevented by an elevation of sentiment, which, like
the celebrated flower of the east, disdains the sup-
port of the earth,* or bewildered by that ignorance

* Epidendrurn flos aeeri?.

20

of the world which attaches itself to the man of se-
clusion and contemplation, linger out an obscure ex-
istence, without notice, without patronage, without
one smile of comfort, or one word of encourage-
ment. And how many more are there, who feel the
divine inspiration of genius, and who possess com-
manding, ductile and transcendant minds, which
might enable them to ascend to the highest, or stoop
to the lowest flights of art, but who, for the want of
opportunities for cultivation, are either compelled to
wander abroad, or to smother the nascent powers of
intellect. This Academy will conquer all these diffi-
culties, and surmount all these disadvantages. On
these altars, dedicated to the Muses and the Graces,
will be offered the choicest gifts of genius, and the
most finished specimens of art. Here the temple
will be reared — the sacrifice will be made — the fire
will be kindled — and no longer shall the votary be
compelled to seek under foreign shores, and in dis-
tant lands, the objects of his adoration. In this
place shall be deposited the portraits, the busts, and
the statues of those illustrious men, who have ex-
tended the fame of their country, brightened the
path of glory, illuminated the regions of knowledge,
and exemplified the blessings of religion. Here
shall the future great men of America, the guides,
the lights, and the shields of unborn generations,
repair to view the monuments of art — to behold the
departed worthies of former times — to rouse the

21

soul of generous emulation, and to catch the spirit
of heroic virtue.

Here shall the virtues — here shall wisdom's train,
Their long-lost friends rejoicing, as of old,
Embrace the smiling family of arts.
The muses and the graces.*

And if our artists shall ever expect on eagle wings
10 penetrate into lofty and untried regions, and to
ascend into the highest heaven of invention, let them
cultivate that noble enthusiasm, that sublime sensi-
bility, without which exertion is useless ; which ani-
mated Corregio when he said, And I also am a
painter, and which fired the bosom of Zeuxis, when
he exclaimed, that he designed for eternity. Let
them also respect the decencies of life, the charms of
virtue, and the injunctions of morality. The most
inimitable powers of invention and execution, cannot
atone for that perversion of decorum which address-
es the sensuality of the imagination, and which
loosens the restraints of the moral sense. A great
artist ought to be emphatically a good man; illus-
trating, in his works, the beauties of art, and, in his
life, the beauties of virtue.

There are certain mighty pillars which support
the complicated fabric of society, and there are dis-
tinguished ornaments which beautify and embellish
it. Upon agriculture, manufactures, and commerce,
upon science, literature, morality, and religion, all

* Akenside.

22

associations of the human race must rely for sub-
sistence or support — but the Fine Arts superadd
the graces of a Chesterfield to the gigantic mind
of a Locke — they are the acanthi which adorn the
Corinthian column — the halos which surround the
sun of knowledge; they excite labour, produce
riches, enlarge the sphere of innocent amusements,
increase the stock of harmless pleasure, expand our
intellectual powers, improve our moral faculties,
stimulate to illustrious deeds, enhance the charms
of virtue, diffuse the glories of heroism, augment
the public wealth, and extend the national repu-
tation.

There are but two institutions of this kind in
America; one in Mexico of an earlier, and one in
Philadelphia of a more recent origin. Seeing, that
they are calculated to produce so much good, and
to reflect so much honour ; that ours is the first es-
tablishment in the United States ; that it has after
discouraging obstacles and severe struggles, attain-
ed a permanent and prosperous condition, it is no
more than right and proper that its eminent bene-
factors and friends, who have preceded us to the
grave, should receive the humble tribute of our ap-
plause. Among the most distinguished of these are,
Robert R. Livingston, once President, and Robert
Fulton, formerly a Director of this Academy.

In the dispensations of the Almighty, it frequent-
ly happens, that constellations of great men appear
at the same period in the world. Great talents are

23

elicited by great occasions, and produced by great
exigencies. This was eminently the case at the
commencement of the American revolution. An in-
fant people were called upon to measure swords
with a giant nation, and Providence prepared us
for the contest, by giving us men eminent in the
cabinet and heroic in the field, to enlighten our coun-
cils, and to direct our energies. Among those illus-
trious men, was Mr. Livingston. He was descend-
ed from a distinguished family, was favoured with
an excellent education, and was endowed with great
and original talents, possessing in an eminent degree,
mens divinior, the divinity of genius. His mind was
improved by contemplation, by conversation, and
by reading. His eloquenee was the fruit of a fer-
tile imagination, the offspring of a prolific mind,
enriched by a splendid diction, and embellished by
a graceful delivery. Those that have heard him
speak, will recognize the character of his oratory
in Denham's admired description of the Thames.

Tho' deep, yet clear ; tbo' gentle, yet not dull,
Strong without rage ; without o'er flowing full.

He was also, an able writer, and had devoted
himself, to the study of the law, and to the acquis-
ition of political knowledge.

With these endowments, and with these talents,
and with a zeal corresponding with the crisis, he was
chosen a member of the first congress ; he was one
of the committee that prepared the declaration of
independence, and he continued a distinguished ac-

24

tor, in the great scenes of the revolution ; he was
minister of foreign affairs, a member of the conven-
tion, that formed the state constitution ; chancellor
of the state, and delegate to congress on extraordi-
nary occasions. To him we are indebted for the
Council of Revision, in our state constitution, which
by combining the judiciary, with the executive, in
the exercise of a qualified negative, creates a joint
defence, against the absorbing powers of the legis-
lative department, and therefore, more fully accords
with the views of eminent political writers, than an
arrangement which commits this power to the exe-
cutive authority alone.

After the conclusion of the revolutionary war, he
continued to fill the high office of chancellor. He
was a member of the convention that adopted the
federal constitution, and he finally closed his politi-
cal life, after serving several years as minister ple-
nipotentiary in France.

Let us now contemplate Mr. Livingston, in a more
interesting attitude; as the friend of science, the
patron of the arts, and the inventor, and introducer
of useful improvements. In the scale of excellence
adopted by the ancients, founders of states, law-
givers, and heroes, were graduated below the au-
thors, and inventors of beneficial arts and institu-
tions. The former, such as Hercules, Theseus,
Minos, and Romulus, were considered Demi-gods ;
while the latter, such as Ceres, Apollo, Mercury,
and Bacchus, were enrolled among the gods. And,

according to the opinion of the greatest of philoso-
phers, and justly: "for the merit of the former, is
confined within the circle of an age, or a nation,
is like fruitful flowers, which, though they be profi-
table, and good, yet serve but for that season, and
for a latitude of ground where they fall ; but the
other is, indeed, like the benefits of heaven, which
are permanent and universal. The former, again,
is mixed with strife and perturbation, but the latter
hath the true character of divine presence, coming
in aura leni, without noise or agitation."*

At an early period, Mr. L. had turned his atten-
tion to the improvement of our agriculture and
manufactures. A society was instituted in 1793,
for the Promotion of Useful Arts, of which he was
elected the first president, and which office he held
during his life. The volumes published by this soci-
ety, under the patronage of the state, contain many
valuable papers written by him.

The best soil, after a long process of cultivation,
loses its prolific power. Some of our lands are of
so slight a texture, that the vegetating principle is
soon exhausted, and large tracts of country, without
extraneous aid, are incapable of cultivation. The
application of manure was always laborious, gene-
rally expensive, and sometimes impracticable, until
Mr. L. introduced the use of gypsum into this state.
His essays on this subject contains many valuable

* Bacon,

D

26

remarks, and show a spirit of experimental observa-
tion, highly creditable to his discernment. The
western parts of this state contain this fossil of va-
rious kinds, of excellent qualities, and to an unbound-
ed extent. Its benign effects are well known,
although the mode of its operation is still a subject
of doubt. Like the hand of Midas, it has convert-
ed our soil into gold.

His attention was also directed to the introduc-
tion of useful plants, and wild animals from abroad, to
the domestication of some of our animals, to the im-
provement of our fruits and grasses, to the diseases
of cattle, and to the growth and nourishment of
plants in general. The volumes of the society fur-
nish his observations at length on these subjects.

But his efforts were more especially directed to
the introduction of merino, and the amelioration of
common sheep. He wrote an invaluable essay on
this subject, which was printed by the direction of
the legislature, and which was republished in Eu-
rope with great applause. I am sensible that a
contrariety of opinion exists in this country, as well
as in England, respecting the advantages of the me-
rino sheep. It was easy to foresee, that the exor-
bitant price would, in course of time, meet with
a corresponding depression ; that the animal would
fall into unskilful hands, and that the disappointments
of cupidity would excite a vehement clamour against
it. The well regulated judgment of the public, will,
however, pronounce a favourable decision. An ani-

23

mal, yielding such fine wool, so essential to the
manufacturer of fine cloths, and which will always
command a high price, as long as a duty is laid on
the exportation of it in Spain, must be considered a
great acquisition.

He had, for a series of years, long before his ac-
quaintance with Mr. Fulton, contemplated the pow-
er generated by steam, and considered the utility of
its application to the propulsion of vessels and car-
riages. His acquaintance with that great mechani-
cal genius, introduced a new era into navigation.

During his foreign embassy, he devoted himself
to the improvement of our agriculture. His letters
on that occasion, reflect equal credit on his intelli-
gence and patriotism. He also endeavoured to im-
prove our national taste. To his exertions and influ-
ence we are indebted for a valuable portion of our
collection.

We have thus seen Mr. L. converting the lessons
of his experience and observation into sources of
practical and general utility. He was not one of
those remote suns, whose light and heat have not
yet reached our planetary system. His object,
his ambition, his study, was to do the greatest good
to the greatest number. There is no doubt, but
that he felt the extent of his own powers, and the
plenitude of his own resources ; but he bore his
faculties meekly about him, never offending the pride
or the delicacy of his associates by arrogance, or
by intrusion, by neglect, or by slight, by acting the

28

oracle, or dictator. He was an eminent arbiter ele-
gantiarum, or judge of propriety; his conversation was
unpremeditated; it abounded with brilliant wit, with
apposite illustrations, and with various and extended
knowledge, always as gentle as " zephyrs blowing be-
low the violet,"* and always exhibiting the overflow-
ings of a fertile mind. His great qualities were attend-
ed with a due sense of his own imperfections, and of
his limited powers. He did not see in himself the tor-
toise of the Indian, or the atlas of the heathen my-
thology, sustaining the universe. Nor did he keep
himself at an awful distance, wrapped up in gloomy
abstraction, or veiled in mysterious, or supercilious
dignity. He knew that the fraternity of mankind
is a vast assemblage of good and evil, of light
and darkness, and that the whole chain of human
being is connected by the charities of life, by the tie6
of mutual dependence, and reciprocal benevolence.
Such was Robert R. Livingston. He was not one
of those factitious characters, who rise up and dis-
appear, like the mountains of sand, which the wind
raises in the deserts, nor did he pretend to possess
a mind illuminating all the departments of know-
ledge, like that great elementary substance, which
communicates the principle of vitality to all animated
nature: but he will be ranked, by the' judgment of
impartial posterity, among the great men of the
revolution, and in the faithful pages of history, he
will be classed with George Clinton, John Jay.
* Shakspeare.

29

♦

Pierre Van Cortlandt, Philip Schuyler, William
Floyd, Philip Livingston, Gouverneur Morris, James
Duane, John Morin Scott, and the other venerable
and conscript fathers of the state.

Fortunately for the interests of mankind, Mr. L.
became acquainted with Robert Fulton, a self-cre-
ated great man, who has risen into distinguished
usefulness, and into exalted eminence, by the ener-
gies of his own genius, unsupported by extrinsic ad-
vantages.

Mr. F. had directed the whole force of his mind
to mathematical learning and to mechanical philo-
sophy. Plans of defence against maritime invasion
and of sub-aquatic navigation had occupied his re-
flections. During the late war he was the Archi-
medes of his country.

The poet was considered under the influence of a
disordered imagination when he exclaimed,

" Soon shall thy arm, unconquer'd steam! afar
11 Drag the slow barge or drive the rapid car,
" Or on wide-waving wings expanded bear
" The flying chariot through the fields of air/'*

The connexion between Livingston and Fulton re-
alized, to a great degree, the vision of the poet. All
former experiments had failed, and the genius of Ful-
ton, aided and fostered by the public spirit, and dis-
cernment of Livingston, created one of the greatest
accommodations for the benefit of mankind: These

* Darwin.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES

30 3 9088 00078 2755

■
illustrious men will be considered, through all time,
as the benefactors of the world — they will be em-
phatically hailed as the Castor and Pollux of anti-
quity— lucida sidera — stars, of excellent light and of
most benign influence.

Mr. Fulton was personally well known to most
who hear me. To those who were favoured with the
high communion of his superior mind, I need not
expatiate on the wonderful vivacity, activity, com-
prehension and clearness of his intellectual facul-
ties: and while he was meditating plans of mighty
import for his future fame and his country's good,
he was cut down in the prime of his life and in the
midst of his usefulness. Like the self-burning tree
of Gambia, he was destroyed by the fire of his own
genius and the never ceasing activity of a vigorous
mind. And O ! may we not humbly hope that his im-
mortal spirit, disembodied from its material incum-
brance, has taken its flight to the world of pure in-
tellect, "where the wicked cease from troubling,
and where the weary are at rest."

FINIS.

N

7445.

C64

1816

HMAA